Dealing with Discouragement (1 Kings 19)

(1) Introduction

We can easily be discouraged in life. This may come from deep feelings within us, or come from the words and actions of others, or a combination of both … where our deep held fears are negatively impacted by things that happen to us in life. For example, we may have come to feel undervalued, and then don’t get that promotion at work … discouraging! We might not be the brightest student, but really do our best in our studies, only to be criticised for the lack of quality of our work … discouraging! We might have served our community faithfully as a city councilor, yet still get voted out at the recent election … discouraging! We might have contributed brilliantly to our community group, but someone didn’t like what we did, so is out to get us … discouraging! Any sense of failure or unmet expectations can be mightily discouraging! Even the gap between who we are and how we want to be can be discouraging!

Discouragement, if it is not attended to, can lead to depression. As believers we have a great source of encouragement to offset any discouragement, so we should use it. Also, we know that it takes many sources of encouragement to overide the smallest incidences of discouragement, so we need to learn to be encouragers of others, so that we can become part of the solution.

(2) Moses – Numbers 11:14-17 reads:

"I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself."

Setting of Discouragement: Moses felt the burden of his responsibility in the leadership of the people of Israel. This was a complex task that he originally felt unequipped for, yet could not escape the call of God upon him. By now, Moses had led God’s people out of Egypt, but still faced the daunting task of guiding them towards the promised land.

Source of Discouragement: There were the constant demands of the people, but most discouraging was their continual complaining, such that Moses felt that they were “too heavy” for him to carry. He required help, but didn’t sense he was getting any. Given the complexity of the task, and that it was God who had given him the task, he felt let down … both by the people, who were making the job harder … and by God, who seemingly wasn’t making it easier.

Symptoms of Discouragement: Feelings of incapacity, anger, hopelessness – so much so, Moses didn’t want to face this growing misery but rather escape it.

Solution to Discouragement: Taking some positive action, in this case gathering around him some other potential leaders among the people. If Moses would do just this, then God would honour this enterprise by gifting and calling these others to share in Moses’ burdens. I really appreciate the phrase “I [God] will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them”, suggesting that God would take some of the passion Moses had for the well-being of his community and place this same passion within others”.

It would have been a huge mistake for Moses to continue to take all of the responsibility upon himself, and God provided for Moses here a good survival strategy … share responsibility and burden with others … be willing to let others in; and of course trust God for the results.

Moses, in his efforts for God, had probably started to think that good outcomes depended solely on him; when the truth of the matter is that Moses, if he was to be successful in his leadership, needed simply to be faithful and do his best, and to understand that it was actually God who would then bring about the right results. This awareness should lift the burden and resolve Moses’ discouragement.

(3) Jonah – Jonah 3:10 - 4:3 & 4:9-11 reads:

"When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live’."

"But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals’?"

Setting: Jonah had been called by God to provide a prophetic voice against the wickedness that was evident in Nineveh. Initially Jonah refused, fled and was rescued from drowning through being first swallowed then spewed out by a whale. When called a second time, Jonah went to Nineveh and preached God’s word of judgement against the evil being practiced there. This provided staggeringly good results, with the people from the king down looking to fast, mourn their sin, turn from their ways and violence, and believe in God.

Source: So due to this general repentance, God changed his mind away from judgement and destruction for Nineveh toward bringing mercy. Now, Jonah didn’t like this at all, he didn’t agree with such a change of heart in God, and would have preferred judgement to have been carried out. So Jonah’s worst fears about how God would act were realised. Jonah was displeased that events had turned out contrary to his own preferences. In Jonah there was an unwillingness to accept the character of God the way it is, and to change his mind in line with this. Jonah was stuck in a certain way of thinking; and this being contrary to God’s thinking, was always going to leave him discouraged.

Symptoms: Anger, hopelessness, and again a preference to escape.

Solution: Being prepared to see things differently. [God gave Jonah a bush that would give him shelter for the night and potentially shade from the harsh conditions next day, however next morning caused this bush to die. As Jonah was prepared to express anger over this relatively minor inconvenience, God was able to point out his concern over the much bigger picture issue.] God wanted to emphasise that the One who has created and nurtured a people for generations would want to do everything possible to save them (v.11).

We see all the faults and errors, and feel the pain people cause us; but God sees the created potential, and falls over himself to offer opportunities for personal and national change. Sometimes our discouragement comes from just not looking at situations in the right way! If we constantly feel discouraged, then we may need to reassess how we think about God. We may have to be prepared to accept correction and search for a better understanding of God.

(4) Elijah – 1 Kings 19:1-18

Setting: Elijah had arrived suddenly on the scene in the Northern Kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 17) specifically to bring God’s prophetic word to King Ahab. Ahab was leading his people away from worshipping the true God to rely on the false Canaanite ‘god’ Baal ... the ‘god’ of storm and rain. So Elijah announced a time of drought which would serve to demonstrate that it was Elijah’s God Yahweh that truly controlled nature, not Baal. This showed great courage because Ahab had been known to kill anyone who opposed him, and went on to say to Elijah …

“Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”

[Elijah] answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have … because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed thje Baals. (1 Kings 18:17-18)

Many will know the ensuing story (in 1 Kings 18:20-40) of Elijah taking on all the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and proving in a dramatic way that Yahweh was the true living God. Whereas the prophets of Baal failed the test put before them, Elijah prayed and fire fell upon the altar of wood – the true God came through as Elijah had pronounced, and the people that had witnessed this fell on their faces and said, “The Lord is indeed God, the Lord is indeed God”. Elijah had stimulated a popular return to the true faith. And then the drought broke! This was no doubt an exhiliating experience for Elijah. So why should this now go so wrong for him? How could there be anyone left unconvinced?

Source: This all made Ahab’s wife Jezebel very angry, and she put out a contract, so to speak, on Elijah’s life. Under such threat, Elijah fled as far as possible. He was not ready for such opposition after the heights of his recent success for God. Why should his life be threatened when he had so forthrightly corrected the religious errors of the whole nation?

Then Elijah had to face the fact that in the face of danger he had run, which may have made him feel even worse about himself … self-condemnation. How often have we reacted to adversity in a way that might momentarily be safer or more convenient, but make us very soon feel worse because we didn’t take what we now know would have been the more appropriate action.

Symptoms:
· flight (v.3a); Elijah quickly forgot how powerful (and faithful) God had just proven to be. Even though Elijah had been a personal channel of such power, the instant he was personally threatened he fled. This shows that discouragement is never far away (even when things are going stupendously)! Perhaps in the midst of a mountain-top experience, Elijah just wasn’t ready for the inevitable reality check!!
· a desire to be alone (he left his servant behind in v.3b); which is usually unhelpful
· again a desire to escape life (v.4)
· mental and physical tiredness (v.5a) when of course everything looks worse
· an initial disinterest in food (v.5b-8)
· bitterness (against God) … how can one so zealous and courageous be allowed to be threatened and hounded like this! Wouldn’t Elijah actually deserve better? (v.10a)
· a focus on the negative (v.10a … this had been the situation before Elijah had acted so bravely, obediently and creatively)
· faulty perceptions (v.10b … there were other prophets, but Elijah [like Moses] had allowed himself to believe that everything depended on him).

Solution: Looking for God’s presence and listening for God’s voice. Realise that God has a purpose to be fulfilled … no matter how good or how bad the past has been, there will be a future with hope. And that hope is of course not dependent upon us, but rather upon the greatness and re-creative power of God. For Elijah, God appeared in the form of an angel (v.5ff) and provided the necessities for the journey of life; so Elijah could regather himself and move forward.

God provided a listening and attentive ear (v.9b), then later could be heard in the “sheer silence” (or in a ‘quiet whisper’) following the strong wind, earthquake and fire – a loving and reassuring voice that touched Elijah at his point of need (v.12b). There was further work to be done, there were national leaders (and another prophet) to anoint with God’s blessing; and Elijah was still God’s chosen person to do it! And Elijah wouldn’t be alone … there would be helpers, and there would be a special friend (Elisha) to join with him in his spiritual mission.

If God acted in all these ways to deal with the discouragement experienced by Elijah, Moses and Jonah, then God will act to address the discouragement we experience today and tomorrow.

(5) Conclusion

To allieviate discouragement, we can try the following:

a. Accepting ourselves as being loved and valued by God, even when we have stumbled (rather than getting down on ourselves). God was not angry with Elijah, just ready to care for him. [Refer to Psalm 37:23-24.] To wallow in our discouragement is to waste some of the potential already placed in our present and future.

b. [Yet] Being honest about where we’re at, and acknowledging our need of help from God and others (to get where we need to be).

c. [But] Being careful who we listen to, take advice from, believe in and trust. Be careful who we allow to influence us. Not everybody is for us, or for God … there are Jezebel’s around to try to trip us up.

d. Allowing our true friends to be truly friends to us … sometimes people are more ready to help than we think, we just need to be prepared to let them in a bit. Talk over your disappointments, and listen for the good reflections that might flow back to us.

e. Looking after our physical well-being, making sure that we don’t get too tired and that we get enough of the right food, exercise, recreation and rest.

f. Focussing on the positive things we have been able to achieve and that have happened to us [Philippians 4:8].

g. Don’t give in! In all circumstances, keep our eyes on Jesus, and our ears attuned to God. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

h. Get up in the morning and get into life with high expectations for the day!!